Attack of the Eagle
by Swiftfire102
Summary: The badgers are taking over everything and every cat thinks the end is near. The former med cat Blackleaf dies soon after telling his apprentice Autumcloud of a prphecy he recieved.
1. Chapter 1

SUNCLAN

Leader: SUNSTAR—wise golden she-cat with hazel green eyes

Deputy: MOUSECLAW— gray tom with a white stomach and  
unusual round ears

Medicine cat: AUTUMNCLOUD— calico she-cat with amber eyes

Warriors: TREEWHISKER— wise dusky brown tom

BRACKENLEAF—brown and black tabby tom  
APPRENTICE, BARKPAW

RIVERSTORM—dark gray tom with dark blue eyes  
APPRENTICE,BRANCHPAW

SPARROWWING—black tom

RAVENWING—long furred black she-cat

HONEYCLOUD—golden brown she-cat  
APPRENTICE, LEAFPAW

SWALLOWFLIGHT—black tom with a white chest and big  
eyes

PEACOCKTAIL—calico she-cat

RIPPLEFUR—gray tabby tom  
APPRENTICE, NIGHTPAW

ROCKPELT—gray tom with amber eyes  
APPRENTICE, THISTLEPAW

SNAKEPELT—gray slinky tom

MOONSONG—light gray tabby she-cat

SNOWHEART—white fluffy she-cat with blue eyes  
APPRENTICE, SILVERPAW

LIGHTFEATHER—pale orange she-cat

SHIMERPOOL— silver she-cat with a strikingly pink nose APPRENTICE, EAGLEPAW + FIREPAW

Apprentices: BRANCHPAW—dark brown tom with a long tail

LEAFPAW—white tom with one orange, one brown and  
one black paw

NIGHTPAW—black she-cat

SILVERPAW—pretty silver she-cat

BARKPAW—brown tabby tom.

EAGLEPAW— brown tom with a white face chest and  
paws amber eyes

FIREPAW—orange tom with a black tipped tail paws  
and chest and blue eyes

THISTLEPAW—brown tabby she-cat and big, sparkling  
eyes the color of a river with many blues  
lingering.

Queens: SNOWCLOUD—creamy white she-cat mother of  
Riverstorm's kits: Icekit Lightningkit Sunsetkit  
Sparklekit and Stormkit

FROSTFLOWER— light gray tabby she-cat with white  
Stripes mother of Brackenleaf's kit: Wishkit

RAINFEATHER—dark gray almost black she-cat  
Mother of Ripplefur's kits: Rabbitkit Pinekit and  
Petalkit

Elders: BLACKNEST— brown tabby tom with black markings

SANDPELT—ginger she-cat

THORNPELT—golden brown tabby tom

PEBBLESTREAM—calico she-cat with amber eyes

MOONCLAN

Leader: WOLFSTAR—dusky brown tom with yellow, glowing eyes

Deputy: NIGHTFANG—black tom

Medicine cat: RACCOONTAIL—gray tabby tom with black markings  
APPRENTICE, SILENTPAW

Warriors: TIGERSTRIPE—brown and black tabby tom

SPOTTEDFUR—spotted golden tom

FIRESTREAM—orange she-cat with a white chest and paws

COUGARPELT—tan tom with a white under belly and  
brown tail. APPRENTICE, SPIRALPAW

SILVERMOON—silver she-cat

SHADOWCLAW—black she-cat she-cat  
APPRENTICE, HAWKPAW

BATTLESONG—brown tabby tom  
APPRENTICE, BLAZEPAW

LEAFSPLASH—brown tom with green eyes  
APPRENTICE, RAINPAW

THUNDERCRY—yellow tom

BRAMBLESHADOW—brown tabby with gray paws

ROBINFLIGHT—brown tabby with a red chest and dark  
brown eyes

THRUSHFEATHER—brown and white specked elegant  
she-cat with a long brown tail  
APPRENTICE, ECHOPAW

HUNTERPOUNCE—bouncy longhaired gray tom  
APPRENTICE, BEEPAW

Apprentices: BLAZEPAW—ruddy brownish tom with a white chest

SPIRALPAW—sleek, brown tabby tom

BEEPAW—yellow tom

RAINPAW—dark gray longhaired tom

HAWKPAW —brown tabby tom with long hooked claws

ECHOPAW —gray tabby she-cat

SILENTPAW—pretty black silent she-cat with eyes  
that glow like the moon and a silver chest and  
paws

Queens: DAWNHEART—calico she-cat with a with pale gray underbelly

DEWFLOWER—silver she-cat mother of Lightkit and  
Stonekit

Elders: SWIFTTRAIL—black and white long-haired tom with  
blue eyes

CINDERWIND—light gray she-cat

ASHPETAL—dark gray she-cat

CATS OUTSIDE CLANS

LEACH—gray tom with dark yellow eyes

FLASH—Yellow cat with blue eyes

SEED-Small brown tabby with black spots, black muzzle and paws. Eyes are deep chestnut brown.

PRIMROSE—a brown tabby she-cat, with white paws and chest and amber eyes.

MOON—white she-cat, with soft amber eyes.

SOLAR—Black she-cat with one yellow paw, and sharp blue eyes.

SUN—yellow kit tom, and knowing orange eyes.

STAR—yellow tabby tom and soft light yellow eyes

CLOUD—white tom with blue eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Three cats were crouching in the moonlight in the hole of a small den.  
One was a tiny gray kitten; another was a black cat lying on the ground. The other cat, a calico she cat, sat besides the black cat moaning.  
Her mentor was dying.  
The calico cat turned to the trembling small cat next to her.  
"Go get Sunstar, Silverpaw." She told the gray kitten "Blackleaf is dying."  
The little cat nodded and bounded away.  
Once Silverpaw had gone, the calico turned back to the black cat.  
The black cat stirred and murmured, "Autumncloud? Is that you?"  
"Yes Blackleaf it's me. Now hold on. You're going to be all right. Now just tell me what you need and I'll go get it for you. Anything. Just name it."  
"No!" Blackleaf rasped. "Autumncloud get over it. I'm going to the stars above.  
I have to leave you. Now stop that moaning. I have to tell you something before I die."  
Autumncloud nodded silently through the tears in her eyes.  
"Now, I know you are young but I hope you can keep the clan safe. I know I can trust you. Right?" he said.  
Autumncloud didn't nod this time.  
"Right?" Blackleaf pressed.  
She held her tongue.  
"Don't worry; you can take care of the clan. It's a little tricky but I know you can do it." He told her.  
Then Autumncloud couldn't hold it any longer.  
"Blackleaf, the only reason why you gave me my name is because you were getting old and you knew your death would come soon! I didn't do anything to get it! I don't even know all the names of the herbs yet!" She burst out.  
Blackleaf looked at her steadily but didn't say anything.  
Autumncloud continued.  
"And the badgers! What about them? There have been a lot of them these past moons. What if an attack happens and I forget which herb to use? What if I don't know what to do without you to be there to point out which is which? I'm horrible at herbs! I don't even know why I chose to be a medicine cat!" Autumncloud looked down.  
"I'm going to be the worst medicine cat ever."  
Blackleaf gazed at Autumncloud caringly. He reached out and touched her shoulder with his nose. Autumncloud looked up, tears rolling down her face. "Listen. You're not bad at herbs. And I'm glad that you chose to be a medicine cat. The clan is very grateful that you chose that path."  
"Really?" she asked.  
"Yes really. Remember what happened that day when I left with Stormstar to deliver that message and I left you here all alone? Badgers attacked and when they left, the clan panicked, thinking that they would come back again. You pulled them together; you put some sense into them and tended to their wounds without my help at all. Not even Stormstar was there."  
Autumncloud sniffed. "True."  
"So now don't worry. You'll be fine." Then Blackleaf's gaze turned serious. "Now here's something else you should know. I just received a prophecy."  
Blackleaf gasped, losing his energy quickly.  
Autumncloud leaned closer, unable to witness her mentor's pain.  
"What, what?" she whispered.  
Then Blackleaf gasped again and continued. "NightClan and DayClan just told me that great trouble is coming. The forest will turn dark with fear and the badgers will run away from the new evil. A …a…"  
Autumncloud started to panic.  
"What evil is coming Blackleaf?" she whispered  
"An eagle will come and will bring destruction beyond just bad. It can destroy the forest and the clans. If you do not kill it then our clans will die.  
Get rid of the eagle before it destroys you all. Goodbye Autumncloud take care of the clan."  
Then Blackleaf died and the darkness of the forest began.


	3. Chapter 3

Twilight sparkled overhead, glittering in the peaceful night sky. Newly named  
Shimmerpool and Lightfeather stood proudly outside in the camp entrance.  
Shimmerpool shifted excitedly and shot a happy glance at Lightfeather. She felt like bursting with pride. All her senses have been tingling half the night. She had just become a warrior. She kept thinking about yesterday when Sunstar the leader of Sunclan called down upon NightClan and DayClan their ancestors to give her warrior name, Shimmerpool. She recalled how she and Lightfeather got to become a warrior, by chasing a badger out of the forest.  
She and her mentor had been training with her mentor and Lightfeather when the wild creature jumped out of the forest. It was running away from MoonClan and bore scars so Shimmerpool had guessed that it had ran into a MoonClan patrol in their territory.  
It knocked aside Swallowflight and crashed toward the littler cats. Shimmerpool and Lightfeather pounced on it and they and the badger locked in a screeching ball of fur.  
Shimmerpool wondered if the badger thought it would be easer if it got smaller prey instead. Well it was wrong. She snarled and slashed at its muzzle so fiercely that it ran away howling like death was upon it. A SunClan patrol had heard the yowls and ran over in time to see the badger running away through the woods squealing.  
They ran out after it and chased it well out of clan territory. But they made sure that it was north. Because on the other side new smells, cat smells, were coming out of the south and SunClan didn't want to cause them trouble.  
The cats of MoonClan and SunClan thought about this with each other about the newcomers. At first they just thought that they could ignore them, after all, they were gathered together in a tiny part of the abandoned territory that was used long ago by NightClan. MoonClan and SunClan had argued about the unused territory for a while. Now that the new cats came, there was a cause for it. It was all fine for SunClan and MoonClan. Anyway, they had gotten along perfectly with the tribe cats that lived there long, long ago. Long before even the oldest elder was born.  
But sadly all of them died out. Including NightClan and DayClan. It was a blow to the clan cats, a death bite to the throat. All of them, even the leaders had thought that it was an omen that told that they were all going to die out. It had taken a while before they had gotten over it and soon realized that it was an accident that the cats of NightClan and DayClan died out. It was hard to think of it that way.  
Every time one of the elders told the story to the young ones, the apprentices would walk out of the den shaking the whole day as if they just heard their own prophesy of death. Acting like frightened mice, they could hardly listen to their mentors when they were showing them important battle moves.  
It soon became a law that no cat should ever tell the story to kits until they become apprentices.  
The cats only started to worry about the new cats when they split apart each taking a bit of territory. A bit even took some of SunClan's.  
MoonClan and SunClan both spoke about this at the island of stories. They agreed to ignore them.  
But their fear deepened when a tall tree fell on a stormy fight between the newcomers. It came down on the island struck by lightning. Soon after, the new cats started gathering there. Now MoonClan and SunClan couldn't meet on the full moon to tell stories and share news with others. MoonClan became angry because of the new cats. Their Leader sent some warriors to tell the new cats to back off.  
When they left they met up with a patrol in the pine forest. They came back howling with scratches on their backs. They quickly learned that the newly arrived cats weren't fuzzy kits.  
That taught them a lesson all right.  
Now the cats of SunClan and MoonClan were searching for another place to meet.  
They were becoming discouraged. These cats were taking everything. They even took the secret tunnels that have been used by the ancient tribe cats. Then one day the leader, Sunstar, decided to ask if maybe we could be in peace.  
It was a good idea, why bother them any longer? They settled down already, it would be no use trying to do a battle to force them out of the lands. As for their territory, it would be okay if they took the grounds, it was already abandoned. SunClan had enough territory already so it didn't really matter if they took a little.  
They had already lived with cat clans in the past, before the tribe cats and NightClan and DayClan died. Why not again?  
Sunstar spoke with MoonClan's leader, Wolfstar, about her suggestion, and asked his opinion. Wolfstar agreed and sent some of his warriors to join SunClan to learn about the newcomers. Sunstar called Treewhisker, Riverstorm, Moonsong, and Swallowflight, and Shimmerpaw.  
She had been an apprentice then and had been foolish enough to think it was an adventure. It wasn't a fun game. This could be dangerous. It could go horribly wrong and end up in a fight worse then ever before.  
Sunstar was taking a big risk putting an apprentice in the patrol, and  
Shimmerpaw didn't understand that. When they walked off, Shimmerpaw had been shaking with excitement, but now she was silent. She had been focusing on something else, a rumbling noise. Soon enough the others heard it too. They all stopped and listened to the earth's pounding noise. When they went farther they reached a camp. It was in a giant hole in the ground.  
Down below lay cats and badgers.  
The air was filled with the stench of the badgers and the place was filled with the horror of the fighting frenzy of black fur, the gleam of teeth and claws, and red.  
Shimmerpaw stared down into the camp, horrified of the blood and violence. A noise disturbed them. The groups spun around and were faced with three angry, badgers. At once a MoonClan cat swung at it and the rest of them made a hasty retreat. Swallowflight grabbed Shimmerpaw's scruff and hauled her away.  
The MoonClan cat caught up with them and they were out of there.  
Usually, Shimmerpool hated to be carried around like a kit but she was shaking so hard that she didn't think of that. All she thought of was those badgers charging after her. Shimmerpaw was terrified the whole night.  
After a while everything was at peace.  
Then one day every warrior was out because a hunting patrol had caught a scent of badger at the border.  
They had left just Shimmerpaw, her den mate Branchpaw the one queen Petalstep her kits the medicine cat Blackleaf and his apprentice Autumnpaw.  
Shimmerpaw had been walking around the camp, half expecting a full army of badgers to burst into the clearing.  
As if her nightmare came true, a scream erupted from the nursery. All the cats that were at the camp came running. Four badgers were standing and snarling at the kits and queens.  
Branchpaw and Shimmerpaw leapt at one of the badgers. She clawed at one of the bloodthirsty beasts and jumped on another.  
Blackleaf rushed in with Autumnpaw at his heels. Autumnpaw squeaked as soon as she entered.  
She ran into a badger. Autumnpaw gave it a couple of rakes across its face, and then tried to scramble away. The badger shook its head, trying to clear the blood from its eyes then it looked around for Autumnpaw.  
Shimmerpaw screeched at it and pounced on the black fur. She did a blood-curling yowl that was so loud the patrol that was at the badger scent could hear it.  
As a matter of fact they did hear it! The patrol had decided that they should go back to the camp to make sure the badgers wouldn't get there. They had gone a little far when they heard Shimmerpaw's yowl. They were there in a few seconds. Together they drove the badgers out. But they had to pay a price.  
Petalstep was dead.  
That night Shimmerpaw made a promise. She vowed that she would hate badgers forever.  
And she did.  
Shimmerpool sniffed the air, warily.  
Since then there were badger attacks all over the territory. There was a recent one just yesterday. A badger had attacked a small hunting patrol. Even through it was small it caused a lot of damage. Right now, Ripplefur, Honeycloud, and Leafpaw were in the medicine cat's den.  
Shimmerpool sighed. They days have been horrible. So much death. So much pain. So much hardship. When was it going to end?  
She lifted her head up in the air and a small breeze blew into her face. When she listened, the wind seemed to be whispering things to her. Shimmerpool slowly closed her eyes and whispered back to either the wind or NightClan and DayClan,  
"Please, please tell me when the violence will be over. Will it ever end?"  
The bushes in front of her rustled and out came a small badger. Shimmerpool and Lightfeather jumped at the creature snarling. The badger squealed with fright and ran away.  
Some of the clan woke up and chased after the badger. A dark brown cat named Rockpelt looked at Shimmerpool.  
"Are you okay?" he asked. He hoped that the she-cats weren't badly hurt. There were enough damaged cats already.  
But Shimmerpool wasn't listening. She was busy ripping up the grass and growling things to herself.  
"Are you okay?" he repeated.  
The she-cat growled louder.  
"ARE YOU OKAY?" Rockpelt's eyes were serious.  
Shimmerpool stopped shredding the grass. She stared at Rockpelt in the eyes  
Rockpelt tried hard not to flinch away.  
The eyes were staring; deep, deep, deep in a dark space where nobody could touch her.  
"Soon we all won't be," Shimmerpool whispered.  
Rockpelt stared at her as she went on.  
The whisper soon turned into a yowl.  
"Because soon a great evil will come to the forest. Our lives will be haunted by every paw step. Prey will become predator, and predator will be prey. Soon a shadow, feared by all clans will come in the shape of an eagle. It will destroy us all. It will kill! It will hunt! It will track us all down and we will all DIE! DO YOU HEAR ME? DIE!" Shimmerpool collapsed on the ground, panting, her eyes veering back to normal.  
Rockpelt stared at the she cat.  
Is she serious? Are the badgers going to destroy us? Or is some other disaster going to spring up? He thought.  
As if an answer, an eagle cry, fierce and strong, sounded around the forest.  
The future was dark.


End file.
